Please, sombody save me!

[S7A88Y]

Okay here is my problem. When I use both of my 512mb sticks in dual chanel my rig crashes faster than a brick. it lasts longer and seems stable when I'm using one stick in a diffrent color socket but it will still crash, it's super stable with only one stick in though...I would run memtest but I don't have a floppy.

WHAT SHOULD I DO

 

[Fungalberry]

Okay here is my problem. When I use both of my 512mb sticks in dual chanel my rig crashes faster than a brick. it lasts longer and seems stable when I'm using one stick in a diffrent color socket but it will still crash, it's super stable with only one stick in though...I would run memtest but I don't have a floppy.

WHAT SHOULD I DO

I think that you have defective or semi-defective RAM, but I'm not sure about that. Somebody else more intelligent than me can probably help with that.

Anyway, I think that you really should get a floppy drive. They're only about $10 on Newegg and can be useful. Just thought I'd post my thoughts on that. Sorry I can't help you with your main problem. Good luck!

 

[mdalli]

It sounds like your RAM has issues with dual-channel mode. If you can disable dual-channel mode in BIOS, try it and test this hypothesis.

You might also want to check if your motherboard has the most recent BIOS revision, perhaps?

And forget about the floppy drive. Mem test programs don't catch all errors, and there are other more reliable ways of checking memory errors.

 

[Scougs]

If you go to http://www.memtest86.com/ you can download a CD image that will alow you to burn a Memtest86 bootable CD.

 

[mitch074]

memtest86 is one of the most efficient RAM error detection programs - only because it's very simple: write in RAM, read it; write patterns in RAM, read them; check for differences.

Long but damn efficient.

 

[Covered_in_bees]

And forget about the floppy drive. Mem test programs don't catch all errors, and there are other more reliable ways of checking memory errors.

Could you post these other more reliable ways of checking memory errors please - I'm always willing to learn.

In the meantime, you can run memtest86+ from CD. Download the Pre-compiled bootable ISO version here, and use something like ISORecorder to burn the CD.

 

[dmantech]

You may want to go to the bios and set the speed of ram to auto if it is not set
already.

 

[TabrisDarkPeace]

What mainboard and RAM do you have ?

Could try Prime95 to isolate to RAM, but it won't indicate why it is not working, just that it isn't.

 

[chuckshissle]

Like everyone suspects, the ram is probably having error. Well, try downclocking it and make a wider timings. Try setting the clock to 2T. If it runs then get the Memtest and burn it in a boot-able cd and run the test.

 

[JonathanDeane]

one stick works two sticks is bad hmmm no floppy so updateing the BIOS becomes tricky (its possible with a bootable DOS CD but its a pain) I havent had a floppy drive in years myself Anyway another thing to think about is maybe your ram sticks just dont like each other ? I mean if one likes to run fine at voltage and speed A and one likes to run at voltage and speed B.... you see where im going here ? anyway it does sound like bad ram but if the problem only occurs when you have both sticks installed it sounds more like a BIOS issue to me or incompatible ram.... I make the assumption that you have already swapped the sticks and ran them both by themselves (if one errors out all by itself that stick is dead)

Edit: Upon further contemplation im nearly certain its a BIOS issue you should upgrade your BIOS as soon as possible and this should fix you right up (I beleive you have a mobo that had a problem with more then one stick installed and would crash I cant remember who makes it but I have a faint memory of this issue in my readings)

 

[TabrisDarkPeace]

Gah, almost forgot:

==================================================
Tabris - Recommended Prime95 settings.txt:
==================================================

Min FFT size (in K): 128
Max FFT size (in K): 4096 (or larger if supported)
Run FFTs in place: Disabled / Off
Memory to use (in MB): 1/n *
Time to run each FFT size (in minutes): As low as 15 and as high as 60 minutes to personal taste. (15 min recommended though, even for todays systems)

* - Where n is the number of cores/threads the system can run in parallel, and how many Prime95 instances are being run, each from their own folder at the same time.

eg: 4 threads at once = 1/4 memory = eg: 4 GB total, so 1024 MB each

Prime95 can detect errors in calculations (usually caused by faulty, or misconfigured, memory, or overclocking CPU to far), I don't know if SuperPI can though.

Tips:

You can run Prime95 from two different folders (or more, up to 32 should be OK) at once btw, so it hits both CPUs and memory at once.

It will cut your testing time in half if you have a dual-core system.... if you are not already doing it. Even on single-core with HyperThreading you'll still gain a fair bit of time. On quad-core it helps heaps

==================================================

 

[S7A88Y]

I have the Saphire Crossfire Advantage 480 Mobo (great if you are an ATi fanboy and don't OC much) and a pair of Viking 512MB ram sticks. I'll try disabling dual channel (wish it was somthing else). I don't think there is a new BIOS out for my board.